Against her, I can't bring myself to pick her. I feel dirty. I know that sounds "l33t gamer", but there were just so many dive kicks and "unpunishable" pinwheels when the game first came out. Well even into AE, until I learned to calm down and just block. >.>

Yup, I played it a bit, I knew nothing as to what I was doing, other than I teamed her and Juri and figured, hit the button that does kicks, nothing but kicks, for kicks! And that worked out pretty well. Thanks for the heads up, I'm glad that she got in, still kinda bummed that she "just" lost out, sighs, couldn't they fit 1 more into the SSF4AE game xD. Aw well.

She is I have a friend who's quite good at playing her and I get a sense of her personality from watching him as well as from the comics and cartoons. We share the same idea about wanting to know more about the characters before we draw or cosplay them

You have to!! I mean, how can you be someone and know nothing about them? It just doesn't work. A character makes an outfit work because of their personality, it doesn't work the other way around. Look at Kamina from Gurren Lagann, for example--NO body could work that get-up like he can. You can tell his clothing choices were based on how he thinks and acts. In order to look natural in a cosplay, you have to act (or at least understand how you could act) the same way. Gotta respect the character

Well said! Very true for fan art too – I must say that I only rarely (and very reluctantly) draw characters I only know based on looks. Some people don’t seem to understand that and just seem to think “well, since you already draw, it should be no problem.” The results are vastly different – if you understand the character, you can capture/interpret their personalities, if you don’t you’re only able to draw a shell or a shadow of their whole if that makes sense. It’s the difference between making it interesting or boring.

I must say though and ask your more informed opinion on this: there are a lot of professional cosplayers out there who dress up as the most popular characters. Do you think/know if they actually understand the characters they dress as or are they doing it for the attention? I’m not dissing them in anyway and I admire the efforts they go to getting all the details right, but it just seems like it’s kinda hard to be across every single game, anime, and what not, and whether they are actually fans of the characters themselves?

When it comes to professional cosplayers, I honestly think they know and love the character. It's just too hard to devote hours upon hours of time and hundreds of dollars on someone you don't care about. I've noticed that professionals usually tend to have a huge breadth of knowledge on most things otaku-related (I know that isn't the right term, but I'm using it as a group name for now), but that they'll sort of hover in certain areas--romance, mecha, action, or works from a particular author/producer. There's also the standard games/anime/manga that a lot of otakus are expected to know, and I think professionals stick in those areas as a safe point. Like, with Yaya Han, she's done Faye, Catwoman, Chun-li, and Jessica Rabbit, but she's also done not as-well-known characters from League of Legends, Clover, and a few other places. The first cosplayrs are probably ones she knew she could get sponsored from, but also characters she's always loved. The others are probably personal favorites that she couldn't keep herself from doing. Of course there might be some people who take on certain cosplays just for the publicity, but I really think they're few and far between ^^

That’s a good point. It does take a lot of investment to do a good cosplay – time and money-wise. Whether I’m spending heaps or next to none on a costume, I wouldn’t do it just because the character is popular and I don’t actually appreciate it. I’d like to believe what you say is fact because a lot of these good cosplayers do capture the spirit of the characters in more ways than just the costume. It’s just sometimes I can’t help but notice that a small few, while the costume is good always do the same poses regardless of which character they’re being… which was what brought me to the question in the first place XD

Nice one of Juri! One of the only real deal female villains in the SF universe, I mean Cammy and the dolls were technically villains but were brainwashed or something. I remember fighting a few very powerful Juri players now and then. Amazing how you did this in 15 - 20 mins!

You can use any brush you like - I generally use a custom one I made to imitate pencil lines or calligraphy brush depending on how I adjust the settings, but a standard solid brush is also fine if you adjust to pick up the pen pressure and tapper the tip. Not sure about the cursor though - try checking your settings?